Early Days in North Queensland Part 7

G. Macdonald from Bowen in 1864, and who owned some teams and a small station near Normanton. A partner of his named Macdonald came down the Flinders early in 1865. Percival E. Walsh, a nephew of Mr. W. H. Walsh, of Degilbo, helped to settle some runs in the Gulf country. He took up a run on the Dugald, naming it Granada, which was sold afterwards to Messrs. Hopkins Brothers. He also restocked Iffley after its desertion by its first owners, the Earle Bros., now of Yacamunda, on the Suttor River. The early citizens of Normanton include the names of Peter Armstrong, David Swan, Charles B. Hely, Charles Borck, John Edgar Byrne, for many years proprietor of "Figaro," and a hundred others who more or less helped to form this city of the Gulf. Many of them are now resting in the cemetery outside the town.

R. Towns and Co. had forty thousand sheep on the Leichhardt, near Floraville, and a shearing shed near tidal water lower down the river, where a small steamer (the old "Pioneer," the remains of which are still to be seen at Sweer's Island), came for the wool. The country proving subject to terrible floods and unsuitable for sheep, the numbers gradually decreased until the remnant were finally removed.

The Etheridge goldfield was opened in the early days of Normanton, and found occupation for many teams and much labour.

Prices in the early days were at a really famine level; flour was often sold at 40 a ton, and other goods at a corresponding rate. The writer had experience of these prices when loading his own team in those early days.

Normanton had many advantages over her sister settlement, Burketown, and when the port became known, all the station trade drifted there, and Burketown declined in consequence.

Normanton was, in 1891, connected with Croydon by a railway ninety-four miles in length, which cost 211,000, and was constructed by Mr. G.

Phillips, C.E., on a principle new to Queensland, the sleepers being of mild steel, instead of wood, on account of the ravages of the white ants. The line between Croydon and Normanton pa.s.ses through a perfectly level and very uninteresting country, a melancholy sandy waste of ti-tree flats, covered with the innumerable pinnacles and mounds made by white ants; the pasturage is as poor as the country looks.

From Normanton a number of carriers are employed to carry goods to Cloncurry and the many stations trading therewith. Many teams are found carrying loading by the side of the railway line to Georgetown and the Etheridge past Croydon, ignoring the services of the railway. A punt service connects the town with the carrier's camp on the opposite side of the river, where loading starts for the Etheridge. The carrier's waggon is loaded fully up to its carrying capacity of from six to seven tons, and is drawn on to the punt by the team; on its arrival on the opposite side, the team draws the load on to the bank ready to depart on its journey. The country to Georgetown is generally of an inferior description. Towards the Cloncurry (southwards) for the first twenty miles, the road pa.s.ses through timbered country, bloodwood and messmate of a poor cla.s.s, then it opens out after pa.s.sing Reaphook Range into open treeless plains and black soil, with excellent pasturage, and this extends for hundreds of miles to the interior, the whole of which is occupied by cattle and sheep stations that draw their supplies from Normanton up to a certain point, when the trade is induced by special arrangements of rebates on traffic rates, to diverge to Townsville, at the expense of the Gulf ports.

About the same time that Townsville was opened as a port in order to meet the requirements of the new movements in stock on the country surrounding the Gulf, Burketown commenced its rather chequered career as a commercial port in 1865.

The first supplies were brought by the "Jacmel Packet," chartered and loaded by R. Towns and Co., from Sydney. She was the second vessel in the Albert River, the first being the brig "Firefly," in which Mr.

Landsborough brought his horses, which were landed a mile below the site of the town. The old vessel afterwards went to pieces in the river. The manifest of the "Jacmel Packet" was perhaps the most varied and strangely a.s.sorted that a trading vessel ever carried; the general cargo included pigs, dogs, fowls, houses, building materials, outfits of every kind, drays, rations, rum, and other spirits. In such fashion was the mercantile trade of Carpentaria commenced. On the opening of the goods, a saturnalia ensued, and the times were lively. The overlanders having money to spend, and not having indulged in a "spree" for years, took advantage of the absence of all control, and thoroughly enjoyed themselves in bush fashion; a fight every half hour, horse racing on the plain, or in "the street" as it was called, and strong rum for everyone. Other vessels quickly followed the first venture with more supplies. One of them, the "Gazelle," from Sydney, made a very quick trip of sixteen days to the mouth of the river, where she broke her back on a sandbank; the hulk was towed up the river, and gradually mouldered away just opposite the town. In 1866 the first wool was shipped to Sydney from the Gulf; the first load of wool taken into Burketown being from Con.o.bie station, shorn in November, 1865, on the Cloncurry, about 200 miles distant. The a.s.sistance the first settlers received from the Government amounted to little or nothing; the administration situated nearly two thousand miles away, had little care or thought for the struggling outsiders in the far-away Gulf country. The settlers had to protect themselves from blacks as well as from whites, and as it was some years before Burketown was made a port of entry, goods had to be cleared at Brisbane before sailing for Burketown. When the port was opened, the Customs Officer, Mr. Sandrock, was kept at Sweer's Island, where supplies had to be cleared before going on to the mainland. This meant a great loss of time to those who brought in teams for loading.

All departmental work had to be done in Brisbane, and there also the first applications for runs and declarations of stocking had to be made.

The tide of settlement had been too swift and too strong for the authorities to keep pace with, and although a Land Commissioner, in the person of Mr. J. P. Sharkey was sent out in 1866, and the Government were represented the same year by Mr. W. Landsborough in Burketown, the fact was evident that people were pretty well left to do as they liked.

Burketown in 1866, and for the two or three following years, made some little progress, or appeared to do so. The drovers and shepherds, paid off after long trips with stock, had good cheques to spend, and their money was laid out in the lavish way peculiar to the old bush hand.

Wages were high for all sorts of employment, 35s. to 45s. a week being the lowest. Everything was dear in the new town, but that made little difference to men who had not been in a town for years and had money to spare.

One of the first vessels to arrive in the Albert River in 1866 was the "Margaret and Mary." She was said to have touched at some infected port in Java, and after arrival a fatal sickness broke out in Burketown that nearly carried off all the population. All hands that came in the ship died except the captain, his wife also falling a victim. A new crew had to be engaged to work the vessel before she could get away. There is little doubt but that the great mortality among the residents of Burketown during 1866 was traceable to the infection brought by this vessel. It was the wet season at the time, and this, in conjunction with the reckless life led by most of the people, and the want of medical a.s.sistance, increased the danger of the disease, and scores of strong men succ.u.mbed to its malign influence.

It would be difficult to say how many men fell victims to the epidemic, but there must have been at least a hundred, besides those who died on the surrounding stations. The disease, which ended in fever and delirium, was as fatal to the strong as to the weak, and the little cemetery soon looked like that of an old established town, so numerous were the graves. This outbreak gave Burketown an evil name. People began to leave it, and when Normanton was opened in 1867 with the prospect of becoming a more suitable port for the district, many removed there to carry on their business. Shortly after this, Burketown was absolutely deserted, not a living soul remained, and nothing was left to mark the spot except heaps of empty bottles and jam tins, and some large iron pots belonging to a boiling-down plant. A few stumps remained standing on the open plains where once had been buildings. The hulls of the "Gazelle" and "Firefly" lay falling to pieces in the river, and none were left to sigh over Burketown's fallen fortunes, or sing a dirge in memory of its history; its short and merry life was over, and none lamented.

In these early days, Sweer's Island was a kind of marine suburb belonging to Burketown, a sanatorium about thirty-five miles from the mouth of the Albert, where the fever-stricken people were taken to recover. Mr. W. Landsborough, the Police Magistrate, or Government resident, lived there with his family. Mr. J. P. Sharkey, the first Land Commissioner, and Mr. Ellis Read, in charge of R. Towns and Co.'s stores, also resided on the island. Life was much pleasanter there than on the dead plains surrounding Burketown, and the sea breezes were constant and refreshing. On Sweer's Island, which is only about nine miles long, and from half a mile to three miles in width, vegetables and watermelons grow in profusion. A township was surveyed called Carnarvon, after the Earl of Carnarvon, allotments were sold and buildings erected.

The first Customs House in the Gulf was here, and Mr. Sandrock was the first officer. The soil on Sweer's Island is sandy, and the gra.s.s thick in places. The turtle ponds made there by Captain Norman of the "Victoria" in 1861-2, were still to be seen in 1866, as also was the well sunk by Flinders in 1803, from which fresh water was still obtainable. Opposite the island, towards the west, lay Bentinck Island, much larger than Sweer's, though unoccupied, except by the natives, whose fires could be seen every evening after dark. About forty miles north-east of Sweer's Island is Bountiful Island, noted for its oysters, and also for turtles, large numbers resorting there at certain seasons.

Sweer's Island has been deserted for many years, and is no longer a health resort. The buildings are gone, and the people also. The only residents now (1897), are a family of the name of Creffield, who keep some cattle, goats and sheep on the island.

To the south-west of Burketown is a fine run called Lawn Hill, comprising a lot of good country surrounded by mountains, and well watered. This property was taken up by Mr. Frank Hann and Mr. E. R.

Edkins in 1875. The former bought up many of the brands of cattle left in the district by former occupiers, and also travelled stock from Lolsworth on the Burdekin, and by this means a large herd was soon raised. At the same time the Watson Brothers stocked Gregory Downs, which is only ninety miles from Burketown. Then Mr. F. H. Shadforth, who had come all the way from Victoria overland with his family, took up Lilydale, next to Lawn Hill. In those days the supplies had to be obtained from Normanton, so Hann, Watson, and Shadforth chartered a schooner, loaded her with station supplies and material for a store for Foulkes and Harris to start business. The schooner arrived, and the store was erected on the site of old Burketown, but disaster followed.

Foulkes was drowned, and Harris was killed by his team of horses bolting and dragging the waggon over him. Then Watson Brothers ran the store for a time, Mr. P. S. Watson taking charge and enlarging it in every way.

Shortly afterwards Mr. Michael Kelly opened a public house, and the town commenced its second term of existence. Mr. Jack Reid soon opened another public house, and Burns, Philp and Co. began another store under the management of Mr. Theodore C. Amsden. Then police protection under Senior-constable Synnott, arrived, as the people were becoming rather lawless. Mr. P. Macarthur was appointed Customs Officer, and in conjunction with this appointment held many other offices. Finally the Queensland National Bank opened a branch. The town now progressed quickly owing to the great number of cattle pa.s.sing through to the northern territory and the reoccupation of all the deserted runs. A Divisional Board was formed in 1884, and the population of the town rose to three hundred and fifty. Burketown resumed her old activity in business matters, and the evil name died out with the memories of the old days. So mote it be!

CHAPTER VIII.

THE MINERAL WEALTH.

An expedition under the leadership of William Hann, sent out by the Queensland Government left Fossilbrook station on June 26th, 1872, and on August 5th, reached the Palmer River, named after the then Premier of Queensland, Sir A. H. Palmer. They found traces of gold in the ravines, and on both sides of the river, so that it was Hann's party who first discovered the existence of gold on the Palmer. This expedition went right through to where Cooktown now stands, and on to the Bloomfield River. From the description of the country given in Hann's journal, one of the well-known old northern prospectors named James V. Mulligan, concluded that gold would be found in quant.i.ties, and with the restlessness proverbial among his cla.s.s, formed a party to go out and prospect the Palmer country. His expedition consisted of himself, James Dowdal, Alexander Watson (these two miners leaving Charters Towers with him), David Robertson, Peter Brown, and Albert Brandt, who joined him at Georgetown. Mulligan and his party left the Etheridge on June 5th 1873, pa.s.sed Mount Surprise and Fossilbrook, the farthest out station in those days, and went on to the Tate River, through poor, rough country, only obtaining colours. They proceeded northwards to the Walsh River, and saw one of W. Hann's camps on their way. After travelling down the Walsh a few days, they crossed Elizabeth Creek to the Mitch.e.l.l River, where they had some trouble in finding a ford, the river being quite six hundred yards wide, with high and scrubby banks on either side, and a strong flowing stream. After effecting a crossing with their packs, rations, etc., they pa.s.sed on to Mount Mulgrave, fifteen miles further north.

This well-known landmark is a precipitous bare rock dominating the surrounding country, and visible for many miles. They soon reached the Palmer River, where they continued prospecting, and obtained a good show of gold in the river and tributary creeks. Blacks were very numerous along the main river, necessitating guard being continually kept; they caught abundance of fish while camped on the river, where they spent a month, finding gold almost everywhere, some of it coa.r.s.e, and some very fine. The party started back for the Etheridge, following the same route by which they had come. The scene of their operations was a little above Palmerville, and they prospected thence to Maytown. They were absent from Georgetown three months, and procured one hundred and two ounces of gold, valued at 4 an ounce. It was a prosperous trip, and all the party returned in good health.

In 1874, J. V. Mulligan went on another prospecting expedition from Cooktown. He named the St. George, a tributary of the Mitch.e.l.l River, and the party did a lot of prospecting and exploring in the country on the Upper Mitch.e.l.l, where some fine pastoral country was discovered.

While on this trip they made the discovery of the hot boiling springs at the head of the Walsh, mistaking the steam of it for the smoke of a blackfellows' fire.

Before the end of 1873, there were over five hundred diggers on the Palmer, and the escort left in December with 5,058 ounces of gold, leaving a balance of 3,000 ounces in the banks. The first warden on the Palmer was Howard St. George, and the field developed at a furious rate.

In the course of two years there were over fifteen thousand white men and twenty thousand Chinese located in and about the Palmer. The discovery of the field came as salvation to the north after the stagnation following upon the low prices and depression ruling since 1867. The price of cattle went up enormously, and horses could be sold anywhere at good prices. The workings were along the creeks and rivers where water was plentiful, and the gold was obtained in quant.i.ties on the bars or ledges crossing the river. Rations were dear in the early days; carriage to Maytown was up to 120 a ton, beef was selling at 1s.

per lb. A great deal of the loading was carried by pack horses from Cooktown, the diggings being situated among the highest tablelands in North Queensland, and scattered over a large extent of mountainous country. Byerstown, near the source of the Palmer is about fifty-five miles south-west from Cooktown. The situation is elevated, being near the culminating line of the Great Dividing Chain. Tin occurs in the low ranges to the south that separate the Mitch.e.l.l from the Palmer, and also in the valley of the Bloomfield to the east. The blacks were dangerous, the wet seasons severe on the Palmer, and the first diggers had many and bitter trials. Early in 1874, the last of the flour was selling at 3s.

6d. per pannikinful, and even an old working bullock when killed was eagerly bought up at 1s. per pound; the last pairs of Blucher boots were sold at 38s. Horseshoe nails were exchanged for their weight in gold, and old horseshoes were eagerly sought after. As early as April, 1874, a riot occurred in Cooktown, when the dissatisfied diggers rushed the "Florence Irving," steamer, for free pa.s.sages. It was said there were three thousand people waiting to get away, and the police and miners had a fierce fight for the upper hand. Then other rushes took place on the goldfield as new discoveries were made, and the "Palmer fever" became bad again.

In 1871 the following party of prospectors had been in the vicinity of the country that afterwards became so famous for its golden produce, but they missed the rich deposits, and kept a lower course down in the level country towards the Gulf of Carpentaria, namely, Messrs. T.

Leslie, J. Edwards, Charles Ross, T. Hackett, and J. Duff. Some of these men became wealthy afterwards through buying cattle and retailing them and by buying gold. Leslie, Duff, Edwards, and Callaghan joined in a company and fairly coined money on the Palmer goldfield; all were extremely popular men. Maytown was called Edwardstown for some time after it was opened, and the name was so printed on the bank's cheque forms. Another of these early prospectors was W. T. Baird, known as Bill Baird, who had led a most adventurous life and had ama.s.sed several small fortunes; the last one he made was at Mount Romeo tin mines; he led a rough knockabout life, doing bush work or cattle droving when hard up, etc.; he was killed by the natives of Batavia River while prospecting there; he was a general favourite for his good humour and kindheartedness.

Croydon, a reefing field on the waters of the Norman River was discovered about 1886 by W. C. Brown and Aldridge, who obtained the reward of 1,000. The field comprises several mining centres scattered about in the hill country, which commences here and extends away to the east. No alluvial gold has been discovered on this field; reefing has been the only way of working the gold, which is more or less connected with refractory ores. The future of this field is well a.s.sured, as the reefs maintain their character at all depths reached, and the place is decidedly businesslike and stirring. The absence of good timber adds to the cost of working the reefs, but the extension of the railway to Georgetown, which is contemplated, will add to the facilities for obtaining supplies, and will also increase the traffic in other ways.

Georgetown is on the left bank of the Etheridge River, so called after D. O. Etheridge, one of Mr. J. G. Macdonald's drovers who came out to the Gulf with the first lot of cattle through this country. It is about one hundred and sixty miles west, in a straight line from Cardwell. The surrounding country is gold-bearing, and known as the Etheridge goldfield; silver, copper, tin, and lead are also among its mineral products. This was one of the first reefing districts opened in the North of Queensland, but owing to the expense of carrying on the mines on account of the cost of carriage, labour, and mining appliances, none but the best mines have been worked. The formation is granite, and pyrites with the stone has helped to increase the cost of working. The field is very extensive, and embraces a large number of small mining centres covering an enormous area of gold-bearing country. In the first days, alluvial gold was sought for over large portions of the field. A specimen nugget found in June, 1896, at Mount Macdonald, weighing 151 ounces was dollied and smelted, yielding 85 ounces of gold, valued at 3 5s. per ounce. Other large specimens were found recently in the same locality.

Cloncurry is the commercial centre of a district rich in various minerals. It is situated on the right bank of the Cloncurry River, a tributary of the Flinders, and is about 430 miles west-south-west, in a straight line from Townsville, and about 240 miles south from Normanton.

The copper deposits are very extensive, the whole surrounding mountainous district being more or less copper-bearing. Lodes of gray ore and blue carbonates are numerous, and virgin copper and malleable ore have also been found. The difficulty and expense of carriage has prevented the field from taking that position as a mining centre to which it is ent.i.tled; other metals found are gold, silver, lead, iron, and bis.m.u.th. The Cloncurry goldfield includes a large tract of country, extending eastwards to the Williams River, and southwards to an equal extent. Reefing has been carried on of late, but not to any great extent. In the early days of gold discovery, alluvial sinking attracted a large population, and some splendid nuggets were found (mostly on Sharkey's Flat), weighing from five to forty ounces, the gold being of the highest Mint value, 4 3s. 6d. per ounce. Gold is still produced at some of the outlying diggings, extending over to the Leichhardt River in the west, where the whole country is mineral-bearing. The Cloncurry Copper Company expended large sums of money in machinery and sinking shafts and prospecting in opening up some of the lodes of copper so abundant there, but owing to the depreciation in the value of the mineral and the great expense of mining and carriage to port, the operations had to be entirely suspended. The first to discover copper and make use of it was Mr. Ernest Henry, in 1865. Henry discovered lodes of copper on the Leichhardt and in several other places, and has distinguished himself not alone as an enterprising pioneer squatter and settler, but also as an early and most indefatigable prospector for minerals. In conjunction with Mr. R. K. Sheaffe, at one time member for the district, and subsequently Mayor of Sandgate, he helped to open much of the Gulf country, and has spent a fortune and a lifetime in pioneering in outside districts.

The Black Mountain is on the opposite side from the town across the river, and is, as its name denotes, a real black mountain. It is a most extensive outcrop of nearly pure metallic iron ore, and it is calculated the amount in sight is over thirteen millions of tons: great ma.s.ses of the ore are lying all round the base of this enormous outcrop.

Clermont is situated on a tributary of the Nogoa River, about two hundred and twenty-seven miles distant by railway from Rockhampton, and well known for its mineral resources. Since 1862 large quant.i.ties of copper have been obtained, and the surrounding country is also auriferous, alluvial mining having been carried on with more or less success. Four miles from Clermont are the ruins of old Copperfield, a township prosperous from 1864 to 1870, in the palmy days of the Peak Downs Copper Company, which paid dividends of eighty per cent., and in 1867 sold copper to the amount of 120,000. Owing to a great fall in the value of copper, the property was sold for 3,000, and this mining enterprise collapsed.

CHAPTER IX.

INCIDENTS OF THE EARLY DAYS.

The early arrivals with stock in the Gulf country were obliged to obtain rations and supplies from Bowen, on the east coast, as that was the only port then opened in the North of Queensland. The distance was from five to seven hundred miles through the desert country and down the Flinders, and as the old-fashioned pole bullock-dray with only two wheels was then in vogue, no great quant.i.ty could be carried in one dray load. The opening of Burketown in 1865 as the second port after Bowen in North Queensland, enabled the early settlers to obtain supplies more easily, although the cost was still excessive. But the rations were fresher than those the overlanders had been used to. Some of the flour that had come out with the parties had been years on the road, and was very much the worse for the long journey. This flour could only be used after much sifting and airing; it was made into small thin cakes called Johnny cakes, which were cooked in the ashes and eaten hot; even then it was bitter and nearly brown in colour. The grubs and worms had long since left it, or died in it from old age. It was said that some flour from Bowen Downs that had left Sydney years before and come out to the Gulf stations just formed, being too strong to use, was thrown out, and the dingoes and crows were found lying dead round it. The sugar in those days was the dark, treacly kind, that left a stain on the floor like blood; it came in casks. However, people were not very particular as to the quality of the supplies, provided there was anything at all to eat.

Pig weed (portulacca), boiled or roasted on a shovel was one of the changes open to travellers; tea was made from the marjoram bush; and very fair coffee was made from the sc.r.a.pings of the burnt edges of dampers, and was called Scotch coffee. When Burketown was opened, the fresh supply of flour and stores was very welcome to the early settlers.

For the first year or two of Burketown's existence, a saturnalia of a most original and determined fashion set in. There were only two or three women in the town, and no police, and the crowd enjoyed themselves in their own breezy, sunshiny way. Burketown was the haven of refuge for all the outsiders and outlaws from the settled districts when they had made other places too warm to hold them any longer.